


retrouvailles

by chidorinnn



Category: Persona 3, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 11:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14852166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chidorinnn/pseuds/chidorinnn
Summary: : the feeling of happiness when meeting someone again after a very long timein which Shinjiro gets involved in SEES earlier, and is far better off for it





	retrouvailles

**Author's Note:**

> shout out to my friend who lent me her psp so that i could fall in love with this guy ALL OVER AGAIN
> 
> the female protagonist's name is canonically kotone shiomi in some medium, so we're going with that instead of minako/hamuko

The train speeds forward endlessly, boundlessly, and for the first time since she joined SEES, in the face of adversary, Kotone freezes on the spot. It’s about the worst thing she could do, because isn’t she supposed to be the leader? But even as Junpei panics and Yukari screams, a white noise settles in Kotone’s mind as she thinks back to the smell of burning metal and gasoline, of her mother’s body bloodied and contorted as she spent her last minutes trying to protect her daughter from the worst of the impact.

Then the door flies open, and a tall boy wearing a red coat storms inside. “Move,” he says not unkindly as he shoves Kotone towards Yukari. He stares at the control panel for a moment before pulling down a lever. When the train continues to speed forward, he mutters a curse under his breath that Kotone only half-hears, and then turns to Junpei, who’s cradling his Evoker in his hands. “Give me that!” 

Junpei holds it out to him hesitantly with shaking hands. “What, this?” he asks. The boy snatches it without a word. “Wha–hey!”

The boy holds the gun to his head, and there’s the familiar sound of shattering glass. “C’mon Castor, don’t fuck this up,” he mutters. “Buy us some time.”

A large, shadowy figure materializes in front of the train and positions itself directly in front of the stationary train up ahead. The Persona – because that’s what it is, and Pixie is whispering as much in the back of her mind – emits a sharp cry that sends a sudden chill down her spine, and she shudders. 

The train jolts suddenly as it makes contact with the Persona, and the boy inhales sharply, grimacing, as he continues to reach for whatever buttons and levers he can find on the control panel. It isn’t until he pulls down on a particularly large lever that the train finally slows and screeches to a halt.

When everything finally settles, he drops to one knee with a pained gasp and the Evoker falls from his hand with a clatter. No one dares to move or speak for several agonizingly slow seconds, until Mitsuru’s voice echoes, “I-Is everyone all right?” Yukari and Junpei look to Kotone, who looks to the boy – still crouched on the floor, struggling to catch his breath. “I want a verbal answer. Shiomi.” Kotone inhales, but it catches in her chest and she has to struggle to pull in more air. “Shiomi,” Mitsuru says again, more emphatically.

“W-We’re okay!” Yukari answers. 

“Y-Yep!” Junpei calls out, his voice cracking a bit. “We’re good!”

“Shinjiro,” Mitsuru says next, and that’s not a name Kotone recognizes, so obviously it must belong to the other boy in the train. “Can you hear me?”

He lifts his head and says, breathlessly, “Loud and clear.”

“Are you all right?” Mitsuru asks him. “Do you require medical attention?”

“Uh,” Kotone says then, because Mitsuru had made her the leader for a reason and she’s running out of chances to salvage the situation. “I got it,” she says as loudly and confidently as she can manage before casting Dia. It doesn’t work as well as it should – he still looks like he’s in pain.

“I have an exit prepared for three,” Mitsuru explains. “I’ll need a few minutes to prepare one for four.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Shinjiro gripes.

Mitsuru worries anyway, and the four of them are swiftly transported out of the train.

* * *

Less than a month ago, Mitsuru looked at Kotone’s one-hit-wonder on the dorm rooftop, when a Persona she couldn’t access afterwards had ripped out of Orpheus’s delicate frame and ripped the Shadow there to shreds, and appointed her as the leader of SEES’ entire operation. So Kotone stepped into Tartarus for the first time with more than a little bit of confidence, not quite expecting that Persona to help her out again but hoping that it would all the same.

Instead, as she struggled to adjust to the weight of the naginata in her hands, she stumbled where she tried to strike the smaller, more manageable Shadows in the tower, and let them strike her first before she could reorient herself. It wasn’t that she was completely useless – it was just that Orpheus’s meager Agi spell didn’t always work, and when it did, it was rarely enough to finish off even the smallest, weakest Shadows.

So Yukari, who had a little more experience than she did, quietly took point, even if Kotone still issued orders to split up, regroup, and commence with coordinated attacks as a formality. 

It’s easier after she brings in Personas that can heal. That way, Yukari can focus solely on fighting and Junpei can throw as much of his energy into physical attacks as he wants – and Kotone is content to hang back and support them. Mitsuru calls it “tactical prowess,” where Kotone lacks the physical strength and coordination to hold her own in battle – and it’s just as well, because Kotone tires more easily than Yukari and Junpei, and going to Tartarus more than one night in a row is a one-way ticket to sniffles and headaches and other annoying cold-like symptoms that make her want to crawl into bed and not come out until she can breathe comfortably again out of both nostrils.

–but this is a routine that works, and Mitsuru lets her keep at it until the Shadow on the train arrives – and even that is just another wake-up call that Kotone needs to catch up to Yukari and Junpei, or risk getting them both killed by her own sheer incompetence.

After one dreary Dark Hour shower that eventually turns into a normal one, exhaustion clinging heavily to her bones after perhaps the toughest Shadow she’s ever faced and a near-death experience to cap it all off, Kotone drags her feet to the command room just a little after midnight. The chairman has left, but Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Shinjiro are still inside – still talking in quiet voices that Kotone doesn’t have to strain to hear in the otherwise silent dorm. 

“Do you even  _have_  a place to stay tonight?” Akihiko asks.

“Does it matter?” Shinjiro replies

“Are you kidding?” Akihiko asks, raising his voice loudly enough that, if Yukari were still awake, she might be able to hear. “You just got hit by a train!”

“ _Castor_  got hit,” Shinjiro corrects him.

“Same thing!”

–and Kotone knows she should feel bad about this. She should feel bad because, had she retained the presence of mind to find the right switch to stop the train, Shinjiro wouldn’t have had to risk his life to save them. Had she been faster, stronger, she might have defeated the Shadow before it even got to that point. She’s supposed to be the leader – and for what? For her and her teammates to almost get killed?

“Stay here tonight,” Mitsuru says, ever the voice of reason. “I’ll take you to the hospital tomorrow morning, just to be safe.”

“Really?” Shinjiro drawls. “You can actually fit me into your schedule?”

Mitsuru chuckles at that. “It’s hardly a sacrifice.” 

“Really, Mitsuru. I’m fine.”

“We’ll see what the doctor says tomorrow.”

Kotone nearly falls then, her eyes drooping shut against her will. The third-years continue to talk in quiet voices, and she can’t bring herself to interrupt them – even if all she wants to do is thank Shinjiro and apologize to Mitsuru and Akihiko for letting things get so bad in the first place.

So she goes to bed and knows that she will not be able to thank Shinjiro – and yet something stirs within her, suggesting that she will see him again, after all.

_[You have established the Shinjiro Aragaki Social Link of the Moon Arcana.]_

**Author's Note:**

> is this going to continue? or is this going to stop at one chapter? who knows? certainly not i.


End file.
